Much of Harvard slipped into darkness for nearly two hours Thursday afternoon, resulting in the cancellation of classes and events, disruption of internet access, and the relocation of hundreds of students to the Science Center and the Quad, where power remained on.

The outage impacted a large swath of Cambridge, including most of Harvard Yard, the River Houses, and graduate student housing, according to Harvard Vice President for Campus Services Lisa Hogarty. The Kennedy School of Government, the Business School, and MIT were also affected.

The failure of a transmission line near Kendall Square knocked out power for nearly 17,000 customers, said Michael Durand, spokesperson for NSTAR, the electricity provider for Cambridge. Power was restored on campus by 6:14 p.m., Hogarty said, and service to all of Cambridge was restored by 7 p.m.

Hogarty explained that some parts of campus did not lose power because the University uses five distinct NSTAR electricity feeds, some of which were unaffected.

Around 6 p.m., back-up generators powering emergency lights and security systems began to fail, which would have disabled swipe access and locked students out of buildings. In anticipation, administrators dispatched dorm crew members to hold open doors, according to an email sent to dorm crew and obtained by the Crimson.

(compare that time with what was written about this from MIT""MIT, Harvard, and the surrounding areas lost power from 4:26 to 6:37 p.m." yet they write 5:11. how very.)

DescriptionA widespread power outage has been reported just outside Boston where MIT and Harvard University are located. NStar utility spokesman Mike Durand says about 17,000 customers are affected by Thursday’s power outage in an eastern part of Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston. He says the outage is related to a transmission line and is being investigated. NStar’s outage website says about 27 percent of its Cambridge customers are affected. The area includes Kendall Square near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Square. Transit authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo says the area’s Red subway line is experiencing delays because of the outage. He says no Red Line trains are stuck in tunnels. Traffic problems also are reported in the area."

i am willing to bet you with all that has happened today...arizona soc sec getting bombed and made all hush hush

the weird "emp" that took out all power in a portion of russia, even radio, everything.

and the bridge collapsing today....

syria under lock and key from the rest of the world

egypt going crazy

and drudge and cnn reporting on FOOTBALL or the POWERBALL while all this goes on is no accident.

harvard (and skull and bones), mit, and future government officials being targeted? that's HUGE.and back up generators failing?

MIT, Harvard, and the surrounding areas lost power from 4:26 to 6:37 p.m. yesterday. The outage threw the Institute into darkness — classes were canceled, MBTA service was delayed, and police were dispatched to direct traffic. Emergency power remained on in dormitories and around campus.

The problem is thought to be related to a transmission line in the area, said Michael Durand, NStar spokesman, to The Boston Globe yesterday. Nearly 17,000 customers were estimated to be without power.

MIT Medical shut down normal services early and switched to Urgent Care. Diane L. Magnuson, Manger of Diversity and Inclusion for the medical department, said they would have done this anyway at 5 p.m. The MIT Pharmacy, which usually closes at 7 p.m., also shut down early because of the outage. Besides the early closures, everything was running smoothly, she said.

John DiFava, director of facilities and chief of police, mentioned that Cogen was having issues yesterday morning, though the nature of these issues was unclear.

When asked for comment by The Tech, a crackly voice from the outside intercom of Cogen said that they were “having a plant shutdown right now,” and that they had no time to talk.

A text message alerting community members of the power outage was sent out at 5:26 p.m.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. “It’s strange because there was no storm or anything. It’s like the apocalypse.”

“I planned on cooking tonight, but now with no power I learned an important survival tip — when the electricity goes out the food trucks are still open,” he explained.

(bolded for ridiculousness)

Two Green Line trains did collide yesterday morning at the Boylston Street station. Three dozen people were taken to hospitals, and nearly 200 passengers were estimated to be on board. Neither car was derailed, and no heavy damage was visible. This incident is not believed to be related to the power outage.

Re: Harvard, MIT, Kennedy School of Government +17,000 Power Outage + Back up Generator Fail

A power outage in Cambridge forced the cancellation of a forum tonight in which key advisers to President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney were to talk publicly about the recently completed general election campaign.

David Axelrod and Jim Messina, the top figures in Obama’s winning reelection campaign, and Stuart Stevens and Eric Fehrnstrom, two senior advisers in Romney’s losing campaign, were set to speak for about 90 minutes in a forum moderated by David Gregory, host of the NBC News program “Meet the Press.”

Re: Harvard, MIT, Kennedy School of Government +17,000 Power Outage + Back up Generator Fail

Wonder how the nuclear reactor held up through this?

The MIT Nuclear Research Reactor (MITR) serves the research purposes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a tank-type 6 MW reactor that is moderated and cooled by light water and uses heavy water as a reflector. It is the second largest university based research reactor in the U.S. (after the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center) and has been in operation since 1958.[1] It is the fourth-oldest operating reactor in the country.[2]

Re: Harvard, MIT, Kennedy School of Government +17,000 Power Outage + Back up Generator Fail

Wonder how the nuclear reactor held up through this?

The MIT Nuclear Research Reactor (MITR) serves the research purposes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a tank-type 6 MW reactor that is moderated and cooled by light water and uses heavy water as a reflector. It is the second largest university based research reactor in the U.S. (after the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center) and has been in operation since 1958.[1] It is the fourth-oldest operating reactor in the country.[2]

Itmeans that a CME probably was responsible not an EMP. Same for Russia. The suns dynamics have changed lately. There was a disturbance in the force today also. Alot more of the ground effects are making it all the way in past Earths Protective Field.

Nice of you to throw that all out there for us to ponder but its just a side show for the real Buffet. Sun and Solar System I'm sorry to say is probably the cause.

The Bridge....? The whole fucking World is falling apart. Look around. Its everywhere.

Itmeans that a CME probably was responsible not an EMP. Same for Russia. The suns dynamics have changed lately. There was a disturbance in the force today also. Alot more of the ground effects are making it all the way in past Earths Protective Field.

Nice of you to throw that all out there for us to ponder but its just a side show for the real Buffet. Sun and Solar System I'm sorry to say is probably the cause.

The Bridge....? The whole fucking World is falling apart. Look around. Its everywhere.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 17591720

Interesting.

So if the CME we had was a 'small' one ... then either

1. They are lying to us about the strength of the CME2. Its not JUST the 'strength' of a CME that actually matters, but the particles it's composed of3. Its not the SIZE of the CME that matters at all -- in fact its something ELSE that matters, such as Gamma Ray bursts4. They aren't going to tell us what matters and it will be secret for a long time and they will let us go on believing that Solar Flares and CMEs are ultimately able to doom us all to EMP death.